Advertisements in an end-user controlled playback environment

ABSTRACT

This invention discloses a method for displaying advertisements transmitted to a user unit, the method includes receiving, at the user unit, at least one advertisement tagged with a delay tag indicating whether display of the at least one advertisement can be delayed and only if the delay tag allows delaying display of the at least one advertisement, storing the at least one advertisement at the user unit, retrieving the at least one advertisement and displaying the at least one advertisement. A billing system for reporting a commercial broadcast to a multiplicity of users is also disclosed.

The present application is a divisional application of application Ser.No. 09/914,747, filed Nov. 27, 2001 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,340,760 which isa 35 USC §371 application of PCT/IL01/00035, filed on 14 Jan. 2001 andentitled “Advertisements in an End-User Controlled PlaybackEnvironment”, which was published on 19 Jul. 2001 in the Englishlanguage with International Publication Number WO 01/52541 A1.

The nonprovisional application designated above, namely application Ser.No. 09/914,747 filed on Nov. 27, 2001, claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 60/176,215 filed Jan. 14, 2000 and60/179,968 filed Feb. 3, 2000.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to digital television.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Conventional techniques for digital television recording which areavailable today typically enable recording of programs andadvertisements or commercials associated with the programs. Conventionaltechniques, such as techniques using a standard home video cassetterecorder (VCR), allow manual manipulation of programs and advertisementsor commercials associated with the programs.

Some aspects of technologies that may be useful in understanding thepresent invention are described in the following patents and patentapplications:

U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,414,773 and 5,715,315 to Handelman which describe aCATV system including a CATV network, a multiplicity of subscriberunits, apparatus for transmitting over said CATV network encryptedinformation individually addressed to a subscriber unit and apparatusassociated with each of the multiplicity of subscriber units fordecoding the encrypted information addressed thereto;

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/515,118 to Wachtfogel et al andcorresponding published PCT Application WO 00/01149 both assigned to NDSLimited which describe a digital television recording method comprising:broadcasting a television program associated with a broadcaster set ofparameters enabling access to a first set of predetermined portions ofthe program; operating an agent for determining whether to record theprogram and for associating with the program, upon recording of theprogram, an agent set of parameters enabling access to a second set ofpredetermined portions of the program; storing the program together withthe broadcaster set of parameters and the agent set of parameters togenerate an addressable program; retrieving at least a portion of theaddressable program; displaying the at least a portion of theaddressable program to a user; receiving from the user a user set ofparameters enabling access to a third set of predetermined portions ofthe addressable program; editing the addressable program to include saiduser set of parameters enabling access to the third set of predeterminedportions of the addressable program thereby generating an editedaddressable program; and storing the edited addressable program; and

Israel Patent Application 121230, submitted 3 Jul. 1997 andcorresponding published PCT Application WO 99/01984 both assigned to NDSLimited which describe one system for using intelligent agents tocustomize an electronic program guide (EPG) based on user behavior.

U.S. Provisional Patent Applications 60/179,968 and 60/176,215 toWachtfogel et al, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporatedherein by reference, describe automated targeting and provisioning ofadvertisements in an end-user controlled playback environment.

The disclosures of all references mentioned above and throughout thepresent specification are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention seeks to provide improved methods and apparatusfor manipulating programs and commercials and for enabling interactiveoperations on programs and commercials.

The existing techniques for dealing with advertisements do not enableuseful manipulations of the programs and the commercials, such ascontrolling displaying of commercials, delaying displaying ofcommercials, selecting commercials to be displayed, and so forth.

The existing techniques also do not enable interactive operations suchas transmission of recommendations to watch programs or commercials tofriends. Thus, it is appreciated that techniques that will enable suchmanipulations and interactive operations will be highly desired.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a program and a setof commercials to be played during program breaks are encrypted andprepared at a headend for transmission to a plurality of user units.Metadata to be associated with the program and the commercials ispreferably encrypted for protection and transmitted together with theprogram and the set of commercials in a broadcast digital stream.

The metadata preferably includes data relating the commercials to theprogram and to other possible programs or pieces of broadcast content,content-related data that provides information about the program, andvarious types of tags, such as the following: delay tags indicatingwhether display of the commercials can be delayed; tags indicating validvendors associated with frames displaying advertised items in order toprevent replacement of a commercial for an item offered by a pluralityof vendors; and replacement tags indicating whether replacement ofdisplaying commercials by displaying of alternative commercialsassociated therewith is allowed. If replacement of commercials for anitem offered by a plurality of vendors is enabled, the metadata may alsoinclude links associating commercials with selection icons associatedwith a leading vendor from among a plurality of vendors.

The broadcast digital stream is preferably received at a user unit and,based upon predetermined criteria or criteria determined in real-time,the program may be displayed without delay or stored in the user unitfor future display to a user of the user unit.

The commercials are preferably detected and stored or displayed withoutdelay. The user is preferably enabled to manipulate stored commercialsand/or interact with the commercials once such stored commercials aredetected. The user may thus perform at least one of the followingoperations: delay displaying of a commercial; replace displaying of thecommercial by displaying of an alternative commercial; and operate aselection icon to purchase the item from the leading vendor or from avendor other than the leading vendor from among the plurality ofvendors. In a case where the user purchases the item from a vendor otherthan the leading vendor, the leading vendor may be compensated. The usermay also preferably transmit a recommendation of the program or acommercial to a remote user and/or transmit an advertisement message toa targeted audience.

There is thus provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention a method for displaying advertisements transmitted toa user unit, the method including receiving, at the user unit, at leastone advertisement tagged with a delay tag indicating whether display ofthe at least one advertisement can be delayed, and only if the delay tagallows delaying display of the at least one advertisement: storing theat least one advertisement at the user unit, retrieving the at least oneadvertisement, and displaying the at least one advertisement.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the method also includes displaying the at least oneadvertisement without delay if the delay tag does not allow delayingdisplay of the at least one advertisement.

Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the delay tag also indicates whether a user of the user unitcan control display of the at least one advertisement, and thedisplaying includes, only if the delay tag indicates that the user cancontrol display of the at least one advertisement: retrieving the atleast one advertisement in response to a selection made by the user, anddisplaying the at least one advertisement.

Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the delay tag also indicates a maximum allowed delay timeperiod for displaying the at least one advertisement, and the displayingincludes displaying the at least one advertisement after the maximumallowed delay time period elapses if the at least one advertisement hadnot been displayed before the maximum allowed delay time period elapsed.

Moreover in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the delay tag also indicates a non-advertising programming(NAP) threshold defining a maximum amount of NAP that may be displayedbefore the at least one advertisement must be displayed, and thedisplaying includes determining an amount of NAP that has already beendisplayed, and displaying the at least one advertisement without delayif the amount of NAP that has already been displayed is greater than orequal to the NAP threshold.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the amount of NAP is defined by an accumulated time of displayof NAP.

Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the delay tag is assigned a guaranteed delivery attribute thatforces the at least one advertisement to be displayed eventually.

Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the delay tag is assigned the guaranteed delivery attribute inresponse to a payment for assigning the guaranteed delivery attribute.

There is thus provided in accordance with another preferred embodimentof the present invention a method for displaying advertisementstransmitted to a user unit, the method including receiving, at the userunit, at least one advertisement tagged with a tag indicating anon-advertising programming (NAP) threshold which defines a maximumamount of NAP that may be displayed before the at least oneadvertisement must be displayed, determining an amount of NAP that hasalready been displayed at the user unit, and displaying the at least oneadvertisement without delay if the amount of NAP that has already beendisplayed at the user unit is greater than or equal to the NAPthreshold.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention t the amount of NAP is defined by an accumulated time ofdisplay of NAP.

Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention t the NAP includes a plurality of categorized NAP elementsNAP₁, . . . , NAP_(n) having n separate weight factors where n is anindex, and the amount of NAP is defined by a weighted sum of time ofdisplay of all the categorized NAP elements NAP₁, . . . , NAP_(n).

Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention each of the plurality of categorized NAP elements NAP₁, . . .NAP_(n) is associated with a service-level determining aquality-of-service (QoS).

Moreover in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention t each weight factor i in the n separate weight factors isinversely related to an amount of payment for a corresponding NAP_(i).

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention each weight factor i in the n separate weight factors isinversely proportional to an amount of payment for a correspondingNAP_(i).

Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the amount of NAP is directly related to a number of viewingpoints that are accumulated by a user viewing the NAP.

Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the displaying includes: determining that the at least oneadvertisement is currently at the top of a play-list queue ofadvertisements to be displayed, and displaying the at least oneadvertisement without delay in accordance with a result of thedetermining.

There is thus provided in accordance with another preferred embodimentof the present invention a method for displaying advertisementstransmitted to a user unit, the method includes: receiving, at the userunit, at least one advertisement associated with at least onealternative advertisement, the at least one advertisement being taggedwith a replacement tag indicating whether a user of the user unit isallowed to replace displaying of the at least one advertisement bydisplaying of the at least one alternative advertisement, and displayingone of the at least one advertisement and the at least one alternativeadvertisement in accordance with a value of the replacement tag and aselection of the user.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the method also including, prior to the displaying:determining that the at least one advertisement and the at least onealternative advertisement are not competing advertisements, andperforming the displaying based, at least in part, on a result of thedetermining.

Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the replacement tag also provides an archiving indicationindicating which one of the at least one advertisement and the at leastone alternative advertisement is to be archived, and the method alsoincludes archiving one of the at least one advertisement and the atleast one alternative advertisement based on the archiving indication.

Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the archiving includes archiving one of the at least oneadvertisement and the at least one alternative advertisement in responseto payment by an advertiser of a corresponding one of the at least oneadvertisement and the at least one alternative advertisement.

There is thus provided in accordance with another preferred embodimentof the present invention a method for enabling a first user to transmita recommendation of a transmitted program to a second user via acommunication network, the method includes: opening an electronicmessage form on a display, the electronic message form including anidentification of the transmitted program if the transmitted program isat least one of the following highlighted, marked, and viewed by thefirst user, filling in the electronic message form to form arecommendation message, the filling in including filling in at leastidentification details of the second user, transmitting, via thecommunication network, the electronic message form to a headend of thecommunication network, processing, at the headend, the electronic formto match the identification details of the second user with validsubscriber details, and forwarding the recommendation message to thesecond user in response to a positive match of the identificationdetails of the second user with valid subscriber details.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the filling in also includes filling in authorization dataauthorizing the headend to bill the first user for the second userviewing the transmitted program in response to the recommendationmessage.

Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the authorization data includes a selection of a method ofpayment.

Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the method of payment includes one of the following paymentfrom a bank account, payment by a credit card, and payment by debiting asmart card.

Moreover in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the filling in also includes filling in program relatedinformation including at least one of the following a title of thetransmitted program, an identification of a recommended episode, a dateand a time of creation of the recommendation message, parental rating ofthe transmitted program, and a viewing rating assigned to thetransmitted program by the first user.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the transmitted program includes an advertisement.

Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the processing includes verifying an entitlement of the firstuser to provide the recommendation message to the second user.

Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the verifying is performed at least one of the following: theheadend, a removable security element at a user unit operated by thefirst user, and a removable security element at a user unit operated bythe second user.

Moreover in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention at least one of the removable security elements includes asmart card.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the processing includes verifying an entitlement of the seconduser to receive the recommendation message from the first user.

Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the method also includes attaching a video clip message to therecommendation message prior to the transmitting the electronic messageform to the headend.

Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the method also includes assigning the transmitted program ahigh viewing priority for the second user in response to the forwardingthe recommendation message to the second user.

Moreover in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the high viewing priority includes a highest viewing priority.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the forwarding includes: transmitting the recommendationmessage to the second user if the second user is served by the headend,and transmitting the recommendation message to an information serviceprovider that serves the second user if the second user is not served bythe headend.

Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention a method also including enabling the second user to blockreception of the recommendation message.

There is thus provided in accordance with another preferred embodimentof the present invention a payment method for a pay television system,the method includes billing a user by a sum of money which is acalculated by subtracting, from a predetermined price for a program, aresult of a substitution of an actual duration-of-display ofadvertisements associated with the program in a predetermined arithmeticfunction that correlates the predetermined price for the program to apredetermined duration-of-display of advertisements associated with theprogram.

There is thus provided in accordance with still another preferredembodiment of the present invention a method for counteractingreplacement of advertisements for an item offered by a plurality ofvendors, the method includes associating a frame displaying the itemwith a tag indicating a valid vendor, and preventing replacement of theitem by other than the valid vendor.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention a method also including, prior to the associating, encryptingthe tag.

There is thus provided in accordance with another preferred embodimentof the present invention a method for replacing advertisements for anitem offered by a plurality of vendors, the method includes: displayingan advertisement of the item associated with a selection icon associatedwith a leading vendor from among the plurality of vendors, displayingoffers to purchase the item by the leading vendor and by vendors fromthe plurality of vendors other than the leading vendor upon selection ofthe selection icon, and compensating the leading vendor for a purchaseof the item from a vendor other than the leading vendor.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the compensating includes at least one of the following:crediting an account of the leading vendor, and crediting an amount ofadvertisements of the leading vendor.

There is thus provided in accordance with another preferred embodimentof the present invention a personal advertisement method for enabling auser to transmit an advertisement message to a targeted audience, themethod includes: creating an advertisement message, associating theadvertisement message with parameters determining the targeted audience,transmitting the advertisement message associated with the parametersdetermining the targeted audience to a headend, processing, at theheadend, the advertisement message and the parameters determining thetargeted audience to create an advertisement transmission programscheduled for broadcast to the targeted audience, and broadcasting theadvertisement program to the targeted audience.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the method also includes associating the advertisement messagewith parameters determining at least one of the following: an expirationdate of the advertisement message, a delivery mode determining apriority of broadcast of the advertisement transmission program, and amethod of payment for broadcasting the advertisement transmissionprogram.

Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the parameters determining the targeted audience include atleast one of the following an age group of viewers, residence areas ofviewers, a pre-specified field of interest of viewers, an income levelof viewers, gender of viewers, and types of programs being watched byviewers.

Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the method of payment includes one of the following: paymentfrom a bank account, payment by a credit card, and payment by debiting adebit card.

Moreover in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the debit card includes a smart card.

There is thus provided in accordance with another preferred embodimentof the present invention a method for detecting a broadcast commercialin a broadcast digital stream, the method includes detecting indicia inmetadata added to the broadcast digital stream, the indicia indicatingat least one of the following a start point of the commercial, an endpoint of the commercial, and a presence point within the commercial.

There is thus provided in accordance with still another preferredembodiment of the present invention a method for detecting a broadcastcommercial in a broadcast digital stream, the method includes performingan analysis on content of the broadcast digital stream to detectparameters characterizing the commercial.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, the parameters include at least one of the following: anindication of a sequence of a length typical to a broadcast commercial,an indication of a repetition of a sequence of a length typical to abroadcast commercial, an indication of a sequence of a length typical toa broadcast commercial at predetermined times known to be likely toinclude commercial breaks, an indication of a sequence of a lengthtypical to a broadcast commercial between program events, and anindication of a sequence of a length typical to a broadcast commercialwithin a program event.

There is thus provided in accordance with another preferred embodimentof the present invention a method for detecting a broadcast commercialin a broadcast digital stream, the method includes performing ananalysis on a user behavior during display of the broadcast digitalstream to detect behavior characteristics associated with user behaviorduring display of commercials.

There is thus provided in accordance with still another preferredembodiment of the present invention a method for storing a broadcastcommercial for future display to a user, the method includingdetermining whether to store the broadcast commercial based upon atleast one of the following a predetermined preference of the user for anitem being advertised in the commercial, a previous purchase of an itembeing advertised in the commercial, and correspondence of at least onecharacteristic associated with the commercial to user profileinformation, and storing the broadcast commercial in response to aresult of the determining.

There is thus provided in accordance with yet another preferredembodiment of the present invention a method for displaying a storedbroadcast commercial to a user, the method including determining whetherto display the broadcast commercial based upon at least one of thefollowing metadata associated with content displayed to the user whichindicates when a potential commercial occurs, a required frequency of acommercial break, a time of day, a time window during which thebroadcast commercial is valid, analysis of an event, a request of theuser, and an indication of the user that he has viewed enough, anddisplaying the broadcast commercial in response to a result of thedetermining.

There is thus provided in accordance with another preferred embodimentof the present invention a method for selecting a stored broadcastcommercial for displaying to a user, the method includes determiningwhether to select the broadcast commercial based upon at least one ofthe following a number of times the commercial has already beendisplayed to the user, a number of times other commercials advertisingthe same item advertised by the commercial have already been displayedto the user, a type of product advertised in the commercial, an eventcurrently being viewed, an offer induced by metadata, a relation toother commercials, a predetermined date, and position in a sequence ofteaser commercials, and selecting the commercial for displaying to theuser in response to a result of the determining.

There is thus provided in accordance with still another preferredembodiment of the present invention a method for protecting metadataadded to a broadcast digital stream, the method includes encrypting themetadata prior to broadcast to users, and enabling decrypting of themetadata in response to performance of an authorization procedure.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the authorization procedure includes at least one of thefollowing an authentication procedure authenticating a transmittingentity, and a co-dependency procedure correlating the metadata tocontent.

There is thus provided in accordance with another preferred embodimentof the present invention a billing method associated with a broadcastcommercial broadcast to a multiplicity of users, the method includingreceiving reports corresponding to the commercial from at least some ofthe plurality of users, and performing at least one of the following inresponse to the receiving crediting the at least some of the pluralityof users by an amount of credit, and charging an advertiser of thecommercial by an amount of charge.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the amount of credit includes a predetermined amount ofcredit.

Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the predetermined amount of credit includes a fixed amount ofcredit.

Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the amount of charge is proportional to a number of thereports.

There is thus provided in accordance with another preferred embodimentof the present invention a method for enabling a user to searchadvertisements transmitted to a user unit, the method includingreceiving, at the user unit, a plurality of advertisements including atleast a sub-group of advertisements in which each advertisement isassociated with an advertisement category tag categorizing theadvertisement according to types of items advertised in theadvertisement, and displaying, in response to a selection made by theuser when viewing at least one advertisement from the sub-group ofadvertisements, identification elements of all advertisements in thesub-group, each identification element in the sub-group enabling theuser to select an advertisement associated therewith.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the displaying includes simultaneously displaying theidentification elements of at least some of the advertisements in thesub-group.

Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention each identification element includes at least one of thefollowing an icon identifying an advertisement in the sub-group, anindex identifying an advertisement in the sub-group, a code identifyingan advertisement in the sub-group, an image from an advertisement in thesub-group, and a video clip of an advertisement in the sub-group.

Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the identification elements are arranged in a mosaic display.

There is thus provided in accordance with another preferred embodimentof the present invention a method for purchasing an item via acommunication network, the item being offered by a plurality of vendorsand advertised in advertisements provided by the plurality of vendors,the method includes determining one of the plurality of vendors as aleading vendor in response to a payment by the leading vendor,displaying the advertisements of the item and an offer to purchase theitem from the leading vendor, and enabling users to purchase the itemvia the communication network only from the leading vendor.

There is thus provided in accordance with still another preferredembodiment of the present invention a method for deleting a storedbroadcast commercial, the method includes determining whether to deletethe broadcast commercial based upon at least one of the following: apre-determined elapsed time period of the broadcast commercial, a numberof times the broadcast commercial has been displayed, in response toreceipt of an erase signal, a request of a user not to presentcommercials of a particular vendor, and a payment made to prevent thestored broadcast commercial from being deleted, and deleting thebroadcast commercial in response to a result of the determining.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the deleting includes transmitting a delete trigger signal ina secure mode.

There is thus provided in accordance with another preferred embodimentof the present invention a user unit for displaying transmittedadvertisements, the user unit including a receiver operative to receiveat least one advertisement tagged with a delay tag indicating whetherdisplay of the at least one advertisement can be delayed, a memory, adisplay, and a controller operatively associated with the receiver, thememory and the display and operative to store the at least oneadvertisement in the memory only if the delay tag allows delayingdisplay of the at least one advertisement, and to retrieve the at leastone advertisement from the memory for displaying the at least oneadvertisement on the display.

There is thus provided in accordance with still another preferredembodiment of the present invention a user unit for displayingtransmitted advertisements, the user unit including a receiver operativeto receive at least one advertisement tagged with a tag indicating anon-advertising programming (NAP) threshold which defines a maximumamount of NAP that may be displayed on a display before the at least oneadvertisement must be displayed, and a controller operatively associatedwith the receiver and operative to determine an amount of NAP that hasalready been displayed, and to provide the at least one advertisementwithout delay to the display for display thereby if the amount of NAPthat has already been displayed is greater than or equal to the NAPthreshold.

There is thus provided in accordance with yet another preferredembodiment of the present invention a user unit for displayingtransmitted advertisements, the user unit including a receiver forreceiving at least one advertisement associated with at least onealternative advertisement, the at least one advertisement being taggedwith a replacement tag indicating whether a user of the user unit isallowed to replace displaying of the at least one advertisement bydisplaying of the at least one alternative advertisement, and acontroller operatively associated with the receiver and operative toprovide one of the at least one advertisement and the at least onealternative advertisement to a display for display thereby in accordancewith a value of the replacement tag and a selection of the user.

There is thus provided in accordance with another preferred embodimentof the present invention a user unit for enabling a first user totransmit a recommendation of a transmitted program to a second user viaa communication network, the user unit including a processor operativeto generate an electronic message form and to provide the electronicmessage form to an on-screen display (OSD) unit for display on adisplay, the electronic message form including an identification of thetransmitted program if the transmitted program is at least one of thefollowing highlighted, marked, and viewed by the first user, aninput/output (I/O) interface operatively associated with the processorand operative to receive from the first user information filling in theelectronic message form for producing a recommendation message, theinformation including at least identification details of the seconduser, and a communication interface operatively associated with theprocessor and operative to transmit the electronic message formincluding the information to a headend of the communication network forforwarding by the headend to the second user in response to a positivematch of the identification details of the second user with validsubscriber details.

There is thus provided in accordance with still another preferredembodiment of the present invention a billing system in a pay televisionsystem, the billing system including a processor operative to calculatea sum of money by subtracting, from a predetermined price for a program,a result of a substitution of an actual duration-of-display ofadvertisements associated with the program in a predetermined arithmeticfunction that correlates the predetermined price for the program to apredetermined duration-of-display of advertisements associated with theprogram, and accounting apparatus operatively associated with theprocessor and operative to bill the user by the sum of money

There is thus provided in accordance with yet another preferredembodiment of the present invention a transmission system forcounteracting replacement of advertisements for an item offered by aplurality of vendors, the system including a multiplexer operative toassociate a frame displaying the item with a tag indicating a validvendor, and a transmitter operatively associated with the multiplexerand operative to transmit the frame in association with the tag.

There is thus provided in accordance with another preferred embodimentof the present invention a user unit for replacing advertisements for anitem offered by a plurality of vendors, the user unit including adisplay, and a processor operatively associated with the display andoperative to display on the display an advertisement of the itemassociated with a selection icon associated with a leading vendor fromamong the plurality of vendors and offers to purchase the item by theleading vendor and by vendors from the plurality of vendors other thanthe leading vendor upon selection of the selection icon, and tocompensate the leading vendor for a purchase of the item from a vendorother than the leading vendor.

There is thus provided in accordance with still another preferredembodiment of the present invention a user unit for enabling a user totransmit an advertisement message to a targeted audience, the user unitincluding an input/output (I/O) interface, a processor operativelyassociated with the I/O interface and operative to create anadvertisement message in response to input inputted via the I/Ointerface and to associate the advertisement message with parametersdetermining the targeted audience, and a communication interfaceoperatively associated with the processor and operative to transmit theadvertisement message associated with the parameters determining thetargeted audience to a headend for creating an advertisementtransmission program to be broadcast to the targeted audience and forbroadcasting the advertisement program to the targeted audience.

There is thus provided in accordance with yet another preferredembodiment of the present invention a user unit for detecting abroadcast commercial in a broadcast digital stream, the user unitincluding a receiver operative to receive the broadcast digital streamincluding the broadcast commercial, and a detector operativelyassociated with the receiver and operative to detect indicia in metadataadded to the broadcast digital stream, the indicia indicating at leastone of the following a start point of the commercial, an end point ofthe commercial, and a presence point within the commercial.

There is thus provided in accordance with another preferred embodimentof the present invention a user unit for detecting a broadcastcommercial in a broadcast digital stream, the user unit including areceiver operative to receive the broadcast digital stream including thebroadcast commercial, and a processor operatively associated with thereceiver and operative to perform an analysis on content of thebroadcast digital stream to detect parameters characterizing thecommercial.

There is thus provided in accordance with still another preferredembodiment of the present invention a user unit for detecting abroadcast commercial in a broadcast digital stream the user unitincluding a receiver operative to receive the broadcast digital streamincluding the broadcast commercial, and a processor operativelyassociated with the receiver and operative to perform an analysis on auser behavior during display of the broadcast digital stream to detectbehavior characteristics associated with user behavior during display ofcommercials.

There is thus provided in accordance with yet another preferredembodiment of the present invention an apparatus for storing a broadcastcommercial for future display to a user, the apparatus including aprocessor operative to determine whether to store the broadcastcommercial based upon at least one of the following a predeterminedpreference of the user for an item being advertised in the commercial, aprevious purchase of an item being advertised in the commercial, andcorrespondence of at least one characteristic associated with thecommercial to user profile information, and a memory operativelyassociated with the processor and operative to store the broadcastcommercial in response to a determination to store the broadcastcommercial which is provided by the processor.

There is thus provided in accordance with another preferred embodimentof the present invention an apparatus at a user unit that is operativeto enable displaying of a stored broadcast commercial to a user, theapparatus including a processor operative to determine whether todisplay the broadcast commercial based upon at least one of thefollowing metadata associated with content displayed to the user whichindicates when a potential commercial occurs, a required frequency of acommercial break, a time of day, a time window during which thebroadcast commercial is valid, analysis of an event, a request of theuser, and an indication of the user that he has viewed enough, and anon-screen display (OSD) unit operatively associated with the processorand operative to provide the broadcast commercial to a display fordisplaying the broadcast commercial on the display in response to adetermination to display the broadcast commercial which is provided bythe processor.

There is thus provided in accordance with still another preferredembodiment of the present invention an apparatus at a user unit that isoperative to enable selection of a stored broadcast commercial fordisplaying to a user, the apparatus including a processor operative todetermine whether to select the broadcast commercial based upon at leastone of the following a number of times the commercial has already beendisplayed to the user, a number of times other commercials advertisingthe same item advertised by the commercial have already been displayedto the user, a type of product advertised in the commercial, an eventcurrently being viewed, an offer induced by metadata, a relation toother commercials, a predetermined date, and position in a sequence ofteaser commercials, and retrieval apparatus operatively associated withthe processor and operative to select the commercial for displaying tothe user in response to a determination to select the broadcastcommercial which is provided by the processor.

There is thus provided in accordance with yet another preferredembodiment of the present invention an apparatus for protecting metadataadded to a broadcast digital stream, the apparatus including anencryptor operative to encrypt the metadata to provide encryptedmetadata prior to broadcast to users, and a processor operativelyassociated with the encryptor and operative to add authorizationinformation to the encrypted metadata, wherein decryption of themetadata is enabled only in response to performance of an authorizationprocedure utilizing the authorization information.

There is thus provided in accordance with another preferred embodimentof the present invention a billing system including a receiver operativeto receive, from at least one user, reports corresponding to acommercial broadcast to a multiplicity of users, and accountingapparatus operatively associated with the receiver and operative toperform at least one of the following in response to reception of thereports crediting the at least one user by an amount of credit, andcharging an advertiser of the commercial by an amount of charge.

There is thus provided in accordance with still another preferredembodiment of the present invention an apparatus at a user unit that isoperative to enable a user to search advertisements transmitted to theuser unit, the apparatus including a receiver operative to receive aplurality of advertisements including at least a sub-group ofadvertisements in which each advertisement is associated with anadvertisement category tag categorizing the advertisement according totypes of items advertised in the advertisement, and a display, and aprocessor operatively associated with the display and the receiver andoperative to display on the display, in response to a selection made bythe user when viewing at least one advertisement from the sub-group ofadvertisements, identification elements of all advertisements in thesub-group, each identification element in the sub-group enabling theuser to select an advertisement associated therewith.

There is thus provided in accordance with yet another preferredembodiment of the present invention a system for enabling purchase of anitem via a communication network, the item being offered by a pluralityof vendors and advertised in advertisements provided by the plurality ofvendors, the system including a receiver operative to receive theadvertisements with a determination of one of the plurality of vendorsas a leading vendor in response to a payment by the leading vendor, anda processor operatively associated with the receiver and operative todisplay on a display the advertisements and an offer to purchase theitem from the leading vendor while enabling users to purchase the itemvia the communication network only from the leading vendor.

There is thus provided in accordance with another preferred embodimentof the present invention an apparatus at a user unit that is operativeto enable deletion of a stored broadcast commercial, the apparatusincluding a memory in which the broadcast commercial is stored, and aprocessor operatively associated with the memory and operative toprovide a determination whether to delete the broadcast commercial basedupon at least one of the following: a pre-determined elapsed time periodof the broadcast commercial, a number of times the broadcast commercialhas been displayed, in response to receipt of an erase signal, a requestof a user not to present commercials of a particular vendor, and apayment made to prevent the stored broadcast commercial from beingdeleted, and to delete the broadcast commercial in response to thedetermination.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be understood and appreciated more fully fromthe following detailed description, taken in conjunction with thedrawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a simplified pictorial illustration of a preferredimplementation of a digital television system constructed and operativein accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a simplified pictorial illustration of a preferredimplementation of a headend in the digital television system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a simplified pictorial illustration of a preferredimplementation of a user unit in the digital television system 10 ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a simplified pictorial illustration of a preferredimplementation of a television screen showing delay options foradvertisements that may be available to a user of the user unit of FIG.3;

FIG. 5 is a simplified pictorial illustration of a preferredimplementation of a television screen showing advertisement selectionoptions that may be available to a user of the user unit of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a simplified pictorial illustration of a preferredimplementation of a television screen showing an example of anelectronic message form that may be available to a user of the user unitof FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a simplified pictorial illustration of a preferredimplementation of a television screen showing an example of anadvertisement message for transmission to a targeted audience;

FIG. 8 is a simplified pictorial illustration of a preferredimplementation of a television screen showing an arrangement ofcompeting advertisements of a plurality of vendors offering similaritems; and

FIGS. 9A-9E, taken together, comprise a simplified flowchartillustration of a preferred method of operation of the apparatus ofFIGS. 1-3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Reference is now made to FIG. 1, which is a simplified pictorialillustration of a digital television system 10 constructed and operativein accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The digital television system 10 preferably includes a headend 15 thattransmits programs and advertisements or commercials to a plurality ofadvertising enabled user units 20 via a distribution medium such as asatellite 25. It is appreciated that any other appropriate distributionmedium or combination of distribution media may be used in place of orin addition to the satellite 25. Without limiting the generality of theforegoing, appropriate distribution media may include any one orappropriate combination of the following: a telephone system, such as,for example, a public switched telephone system (PSTN) or a privatetelephone system; and cables such as, for example, coaxial cables orfiber optic cables.

The plurality of user units 20 may preferably communicate with theheadend 15 via a return path that may be provided, for example, via atelephone network 30. Preferably, each user unit 20 is operativelyassociated with a display 35, such as a television display, fordisplaying the programs and advertisements or commercials transmittedfrom the headend 15.

The terms “advertisement” and “commercial” are interchangeably usedthroughout the specification and claims to include any form of broadcastinformation that is used to promote sale of an item or a product. Anadvertisement or commercial may thus include, for example, any one ormore of the following, either separately or in any appropriatecombination: a video clip; a still image; and audio such as, forexample, audio associated with a video clip and/or a still image.

Reference is now additionally made to FIG. 2, which is a simplifiedpictorial illustration of a preferred implementation of the headend 15in the digital television system 10 of FIG. 1. It is appreciated thatthe elements shown in FIG. 2 may be implemented in any appropriatecombination of hardware and software, as is well known in the art.

The headend 15 preferably includes the following elements: a subscribermanagement system (SMS) 100; a world-wide-web (WWW) server or abroadcast center 105; a content manager system (CMS) 110; advertisements(Ads) manager 115; an advertisement (Ad) management system (AMS) 120; amultiplexer (125; an encryptor 130; a transmitter (TRX) 135; an antenna140; and a network interface 145.

Preferably, the headend 15 communicates with an Ads or commercialsgenerator 150 or with a plurality thereof. The Ads generators 150 mayinclude generators (not shown) of commercials that are to be transmittedby the headend 15 to the user units 20. The generators of commercialsmay include, for example, film production equipment, video cameras andcomputers (all not shown) as is well known in the art. The Adsgenerators 150 preferably provide the commercials and metadataassociated with the commercials to the AMS 120 which is preferablyoperative to apply management commands based on instructions provided bythe Ads manager 115. The AMS 120 is preferably operative to provide thecommercials to the broadcast center 105.

The term “metadata” is used throughout the specification and claims toinclude explanatory “text” and/or information and/or flags, icons andpointers to information that pertain to content in a digital broadcaststream and to users of the content, where the content in the broadcastdigital stream typically includes television programs and/orcommercials, but may also include other types of broadcast informationsuch as the following: multimedia; audio; still images;computer-generated data and/or files; information from world wide web(WWW) sites; and video clips. The contents of the metadata may thuspreferably pertain to at least one of the following: an individual useror a plurality of users; and a piece of content or a plurality of piecesof content. The term “user” is used throughout the specification andclaims to include a client/subscriber user or a broadcaster/operatoruser.

The metadata may be used to enable operations of users on the programsand/or the commercials and/or other pieces of content and selection ofscenes or portions from the programs and/or the commercials and/or theother pieces of content. For example, metadata may include one or moreof the following: tags or pointers that point at locations in a programand at scenes within a program where a commercial must be played andalso at programs and commercials; an indication of a genre of a programthat enables to select suitable commercials to be played in commercialbreaks or after specific scenes within the program; Ads configurations;content-related data that provides information about a program and is tobe presented to a user, for example, in banners and overlays; andaccumulated viewing information that enables a determination whether andwhen to display commercials and which commercials to display.

The term “Ad configuration” is used throughout the specification andclaims to include attributes that are assigned to an advertisement andare tailored on a per user basis. Ad configurations are preferablygenerated by the SMS 100 and provided by the SMS 100 to the broadcastcenter 105, for example, according to users profile information,according to requests from users, or according to any other suitablecriteria. One of the attributes assigned to each advertisement mayinclude location of the advertisement in a play-list queue ofadvertisements to be displayed.

The broadcast center 105 preferably receives from the CMS 110 contentclassifications and a table associating viewing points with eachcommercial. The content classifications are preferably associated withclassification of content items as programs or commercials. The viewingpoints preferably provide a weight to viewing of each commercial therebyquantifying commercial display time. For example, accumulation of apredetermined number of viewing points of commercials during apredetermined time period such as 8 hours by a viewer, may entitle theviewer to view programs without having to view additional commercialsfor two more hours. Alternatively, the viewing points may be associatedwith content and not with commercials as described herein below.

Preferably, the broadcast center 105 associates the contentclassifications to commercials and programs to be transmitted to theuser units 20, and viewing points as required and Ads configurations tothe commercials, thereby generating content that is prepared fortransmission to the user units 20. Then, the broadcast center 105preferably provides a portion of the content, which is to be encrypted,prepared for transmission to the user units 20, to the encryptor 130.The broadcast center 105 preferably provides the rest of the content,which is not to be encrypted, prepared for transmission to the userunits 20, to the MUX 125.

The output of the encryptor 130 preferably includes an encrypted bitstream that is also preferably provided to the MUX 125. The MUX 125 ispreferably operative to combine the content provided thereto by thebroadcast center 105 with the encrypted bit stream provided by theencryptor 130 to produce a multiplexed digital stream of encrypted andnon-encrypted information. The multiplexed digital stream is preferablyprovided to the transmitter 135 for broadcasting to the user units 20via the antenna 140.

The terms “encrypt” and “decrypt” in all of their forms are usedthroughout the specification and claims to include all forms ofinformation encryption/decryption ranging from simplescrambling/descrambling to hard encryption/decryption. In an analogousform, the term “encryptor” is used throughout the specification andclaims to include apparatus that encrypts information, and the term“decrypter” is used throughout the specification and claims to includeapparatus that decrypts information.

It is appreciated that the broadcast center 105 and the SMS 100 maycommunicate with the user units 20 over the telephone network 30 via thenetwork interface 145, or through any other appropriate means.Typically, the telephone network 30 is used for the return path from theuser units 20 to the headend 15, but it is appreciated that the headend15 may also transmit information to the user units 20 via the telephonenetwork 30.

Reference is now made to FIG. 3 which is a simplified pictorialillustration of a preferred implementation of a user unit 20 in thedigital television system 10 of FIG. 1, the user unit 20 beingconstructed and operative in accordance with a preferred embodiment ofthe present invention.

The user unit 20 is preferably operative to receive transmissionsbroadcast from the headend 15 of FIG. 1 at a receiver and decoder unit200. Preferably, transmissions that are intended for immediate displayare decrypted in the receiver and decoder 200 and provided to thedisplay 35 of FIG. 1 for display thereon via an output port 205. It isappreciated that the receiver and decoder unit 200 may decrypt thetransmissions, for example, under control of a removable securityelement, such as a smart card 210 that may be accessed via a smart cardreader 215.

Preferably, transmissions that are not intended for immediate displayare provided to a high capacity memory 220 for storage therein, forexample, via a communication bus 225 and under control of a controlleror processor 230. The processor 230 may preferably receive instructionsfrom a user operating a keyboard 235 or a remote control 240 via aninput/output (I/O) interface 245.

It is appreciated that the user unit 20 may optionally include acompressor/decompressor 227 and an encryptor/decrypter 229 forrespectively compressing and encrypting the transmissions that are notintended for immediate display prior to storage in the memory 220. Uponretrieval of stored information from the memory 220, theencryptor/decrypter 229 preferably decrypts any retrieved encryptedinformation and the compressor/decompressor 227 preferably decompressesany retrieved compressed information.

Preferably, the processor 230 may provide messages and information to beoverlaid on the display 35 to an on-screen-device (OSD) 250. The OSD 250is preferably operative to prepare the messages and the information tobe overlaid on the display 35 in a format suitable for display on thedisplay 35, and to provide formatted messages and information to thedisplay 35 via the communication bus 225. The processor 230 may alsoprovide information and requests of the user to be transmitted to theheadend 15 of FIG. 1 to a communication interface 255 that may include,for example, a modem.

The communication interface 255 is preferably operative to communicatewith the headend 15 via the telephone network 30 of FIG. 1.Alternatively, the communication interface 255 may include any othersuitable communication means that enable callback to the headend 15. Forexample, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing:

the communication interface 255 may include a very small apertureterminal (VSAT) (not shown), in which case the communication interface255 communicates with the headend 15 via the satellite 25 of FIG. 1;

alternatively or additionally, the communication interface 255 mayinclude a cellular telephone (not shown), in which case thecommunication interface 255 communicates with the headend 15 via awireless communication network (not shown); and

further alternatively or additionally, the communication interface 255may include a cable modem (not shown), in which case the communicationinterface 255 communicates with the headend 15 via coaxial cables orfiber optic cables (not shown).

The operation of the apparatus of FIGS. 1-3 is now briefly described.Programs, commercials and metadata associated with the programs and thecommercials are preferably broadcast from the headend 15. At the userunits 20, the programs and commercials are preferably displayed on thedisplays 35, or stored for later display in the user units 20. The userunits 20 then preferably enable users to manipulate the programs and thecommercials and to perform interactive operations on the programs andcommercials as described below.

The metadata may preferably be protected by encrypting the metadata inthe encryptor 130 prior to broadcast to users thereby producingencrypted metadata. The transmitter 135 then transmits the encryptedmetadata in association with the broadcast digital stream to the userunits 20. At the user units 20, decrypting of the metadata is enabled inresponse to performance of an authorization procedure, for example, inremovable security elements associated with the user units 20. Theauthorization procedure may preferably include at least one of thefollowing: an authentication procedure authenticating a transmittingentity; and a co-dependency procedure correlating the metadata tocontent. Such protection of the metadata preferably prevents tamperingwith the metadata, or makes such tampering difficult.

When a broadcast digital stream including program material associatedwith at least one broadcast commercial and metadata is received at oneof the user units 20, herein after referred to as “the addressed userunit 20”, the receiver and decoder 200 at the addressed user unit 20preferably receives the broadcast digital stream and detects the atleast one broadcast commercial in order to enable interactivity with theat least one commercial and manipulations on the at least onecommercial. The at least one commercial may preferably be detected bythe processor 230 in the addressed user unit 20 which searches anddetects indicia in the metadata that indicate at least one of thefollowing: a start point of each commercial; an end point of eachcommercial; and a presence point within a commercial.

Alternatively, the processor 230 may detect the at least one commercialby performing an analysis on content of the broadcast digital stream todetect parameters characterizing the at least one commercial. Thecharacterizing of the at least one commercial may include at least oneof the following: an indication of a sequence of a length typical to abroadcast commercial; an indication of a repetition of a sequence of alength typical to a broadcast commercial; an indication of a sequence ofa length typical to a broadcast commercial at predetermined times knownto be likely to include commercial breaks; an indication of a sequenceof a length typical to a broadcast commercial between program events;and an indication of a sequence of a length typical to a broadcastcommercial within a program event.

Further alternatively, the processor 230 may detect the at least onecommercial by performing an analysis on a user behavior during displayof the broadcast digital stream to detect behavior characteristicsassociated with user behavior during display of commercials. Such userbehavior may include, for example, frequent changes of channels, e.g.,every 1-2 seconds.

It is appreciated that the at least one commercial may be broadcast in aplurality of forms, such as in configurations having various lengths,for example, a 30 seconds length or a 15 seconds length. In such a case,detection of the at least one commercial preferably includes detectionof a current configuration of the at least one commercial.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention the at least onecommercial is tagged with a delay tag associated with the addressed userunit 20 and indicating whether a user of the addressed user unit 20 maydelay display of the at least one commercial. Preferably, the processor230 at the addressed user unit 20 analyzes the delay tag, and if thedelay tag does not allow delaying display of the at least onecommercial, the processor 230 preferably prevents storage of the atleast one commercial and instructs the receiver and decoder 200 todisplay the at least one commercial on the display 35 without delay.

If, however, the delay tag allows delaying display of the at least onecommercial, the processor 230 preferably stores the at least onecommercial in the memory 220, optionally after compression andencryption in the compressor/decompressor 227 and theencryptor/decrypter 229 respectively. At a later time, and according tocriteria predetermined or determined in real-time, the processor 230preferably retrieves the at least one commercial from the memory 220,decrypts and decompresses the at least one commercial as necessary, andenables displaying of the at least one commercial on the display 35.

It is appreciated that the delay tag may also indicate whether a user ofthe addressed user unit 20 can control display of the at least onecommercial. In such a case, and only if the delay tag indicates that theuser can control display of the at least one commercial, the at leastone commercial may be retrieved from the memory 220 and displayed on thedisplay 35 in response to a selection made by the user.

The delay tag may also preferably indicate a maximum allowed delay timeperiod for displaying the at least one commercial. In such a case, theprocessor 230 preferably imposes display of the at least one commercialafter the maximum allowed delay time period elapses if the at least onecommercial had not been displayed before the maximum allowed delay timeperiod elapsed.

It is appreciated that a value assigned to the delay tag may bedependent on the length of the at least one commercial. For example, astandard 30 seconds length commercial may be delayed while a shortercommercial may not be delayed. Typically, a broadcast digital stream mayinclude commercials having various lengths. Alternatively, the length ofthe at least one commercial may be defined by a separate commerciallength tag that may be associated with the delay tag.

The at least one commercial received at the addressed user unit 20 mayalternatively or additionally be tagged with a tag indicating anon-advertising programming (NAP) threshold which defines a maximumamount of NAP that may be displayed before the at least one commercialmust be displayed. It is appreciated that the tag indicating a NAPthreshold may be one of the following: separate from the delay tag;embodied in the delay tag; and associated with the delay tag.

Preferably, in a case where the at least one commercial is tagged with atag indicating a NAP threshold, the processor 230 may determine anamount of NAP that has already been displayed at the addressed user unit20, and provide the at least one commercial to the display 35 at theaddressed user unit 20 for display thereon without delay if the amountof NAP that has already been displayed at the addressed user unit 20 isgreater than or equal to the NAP threshold.

The amount of NAP may be defined by an accumulated time of display ofNAP. Alternatively, the NAP may be composed of a plurality ofcategorized NAP elements NAP₁, . . . , NAP_(n) having n separate weightfactors where n is an index, and the amount of NAP may be defined by aweighted sum of time of display of all the categorized NAP elementsNAP₁, . . . , NAP_(n).

It is appreciated that each of the plurality of categorized NAP elementsNAP₁, . . . , NAP_(n) may be associated with a service-level determininga quality-of-service (QoS). Alternatively, each weight factor i in the nseparate weight factors may be inversely related, such as by beinginversely proportional, to an amount of payment for a correspondingNAP_(i). In such a way, a time period during which a user views a paytelevision program, which is typically free of commercials because theuser has already paid for the pay television program, will have littleinfluence on the timing of display of the at least one commercial.

It is appreciated that the NAP threshold may be related directly to thenumber of viewing points that are accumulated by the user of theaddressed user unit 20. In such a case, the more viewing points the useraccumulates by viewing commercials within a first time period, the moreNAP is available to the user during a second time period.

In a case where viewing points as mentioned above with reference to FIG.2 are associated with content, the NAP preferably corresponds to anamount of viewing points accumulated by the user viewing the NAP. Thus,when an amount of NAP that has already been displayed at the addresseduser unit 20 exceeds the NAP threshold, that is when a currentaccumulation of viewing points exceeds a predetermined threshold ofviewing points that corresponds to the NAP threshold, the at least onecommercial must be displayed.

The delay tag may preferably be assigned a guaranteed delivery attributethat forces the at least one commercial to be displayed eventually, evenif display of the at least one commercial is delayed. The delay tag ispreferably assigned the guaranteed delivery attribute at the headend 15in response to a payment for assigning the guaranteed deliveryattribute, such payment being typically made by advertisers of the atleast one commercial.

An example showing a preferred implementation of a television screen 260displaying delay options available to the user for a commercial taggedwith delay tags and metadata 265 associated with the commercial isdepicted in FIG. 4.

In another preferred embodiment of the present invention at least oneadvertisement associated with at least one alternative advertisement istransmitted from the headend 15 and received at the receiver and decoder200. The at least one advertisement is preferably tagged with areplacement tag indicating whether the user is allowed to replacedisplaying of the at least one advertisement by displaying of the atleast one alternative advertisement.

Preferably, the processor 230 analyzes the replacement tag to determinethat the at least one advertisement and the at least one alternativeadvertisement are not competing advertisements. Then, if the at leastone advertisement and the at least one alternative advertisement are notcompeting advertisements, the processor 230 enables display of one ofthe at least one advertisement and the at least one alternativeadvertisement in accordance with a value of the replacement tag and aselection of the user.

It is appreciated that the replacement tag may also provide an archivingindication indicating which one of the at least one advertisement andthe at least one alternative advertisement is to be archived. In such acase, one of the at least one advertisement and the at least onealternative advertisement may be archived based on the archivingindication. Preferably, archiving of one of the at least oneadvertisement and the at least one alternative advertisement isperformed in response to a payment by an advertiser associated with acorresponding one of the at least one advertisement and the at least onealternative advertisement.

An example showing a preferred implementation of a television screen 270displaying Ad selection options available to the user and metadata 275associated with the Ad selection options is depicted in FIG. 5.

In accordance with yet another preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the user is enabled to transmit a recommendation of atransmitted program to a remote user of a remote user unit 20 (both notshown). It is appreciated that the transmitted program may include anadvertisement.

Preferably, the user instructs the processor 230, via the I/O interface245 by using the keyboard 235 or the remote control 240, to open anelectronic message form on the display 35. The processor 230 thenpreferably generates the electronic message form and provides theelectronic message form to the OSD 250 for display thereby on thedisplay 35. It is appreciated that the generated electronic form mayalready include an identification of the transmitted program if thetransmitted program is at least one of the following: highlighted;marked; and viewed by the user.

Preferably, the user fills in the electronic message form to form arecommendation message. It is appreciated that the user may preferablyfill in the electronic message form at least identification details ofthe remote user. The user may also preferably attach a video clipmessage to the recommendation message.

Once the recommendation message is ready, and upon an instructionprovided by the user, the processor 230 preferably provides theelectronic message form to the communication interface 255 whichpreferably transmits the electronic message form to the headend 15 viathe telephone network 30. At the headend 15, the electronic message formis preferably processed, for example at the SMS 100, to match theidentification details of the remote user with valid subscriber details.The headend 15 preferably forwards the recommendation message to theremote user in response to a positive match of the identificationdetails of the remote user with valid subscriber details.

It is appreciated that the headend 15 may also assign the transmittedprogram a high viewing priority for the remote user upon forwarding therecommendation message to the remote user. The high viewing priority mayinclude a highest viewing priority.

Preferably, the user may also fill in the electronic message formauthorization data authorizing the headend 15 to bill the user for theremote user viewing the transmitted program in response to therecommendation message. The authorization data may preferably include aselection of a method of payment. The method of payment preferablyincludes one of the following: payment from a bank account; payment by acredit card; and payment by debiting a debit card such as, for example,a smart card or any other appropriate debit card.

Additionally, the user may also fill in program related information thatincludes at least one of the following: a title of the transmittedprogram; an identification of a recommended episode; a date and a timeof creation of the recommendation message; parental rating of thetransmitted program; and a viewing rating assigned to the transmittedprogram by the user.

It is appreciated that prior to forwarding the recommendation message tothe remote user, a verification check may be performed to verify anentitlement of the user to provide the recommendation message to theremote user. The verification check is preferably performed at least oneof the following: the headend; the smart card 210 at the user unit 20operated by the user; and a removable security element, such as a smartcard, at the remote user unit 20. Furthermore, an additionalverification check may preferably be performed to verify an entitlementof the remote user to receive the recommendation message from the user.

It is appreciated that the headend 15 preferably transmits therecommendation message to the remote user only if the remote user isserved by the headend 15. If the remote user is not served by theheadend 15, the headend 15 may transmit the recommendation message to aninformation service provider (ISP) (not shown) that serves the remoteuser, in which case the ISP may transmit the recommendation message tothe remote user. It is appreciated that the remote user is preferablyenabled to block reception of the recommendation message regardless ofthe recommending entity or the entity that transmits the recommendationmessage.

An example showing a preferred implementation of a television screen 280displaying an example of an electronic message form 282 and metadata 285associated with a message filled in the electronic message form isdepicted in FIG. 6.

In accordance with still another preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the user is enabled to transmit an advertisement message to atargeted audience. In such a case, the user may create an advertisementmessage by entering suitable inputs via the keyboard 235 or the remotecontrol 240. The inputs of the user preferably include a description ofthe advertisement message and parameters determining the targetedaudience, where the parameters determining the targeted audience mayinclude, for example, any one or more of the following: an age group ofviewers; residence areas of viewers; a pre-specified field of interestof viewers; an income level of viewers; gender of viewers; and types ofprograms being watched by viewers. It is appreciated that otherappropriate parameters determining the targeted audience mayalternatively be used.

Preferably, the inputs of the user are provided to the processor 230 viathe I/O interface 245, and the processor 230 preferably creates theadvertisement message and associates the advertisement message with theparameters determining the targeted audience. Then, the processor 230preferably provides the advertisement message associated with theparameters determining the targeted audience to the communicationinterface 255 which is operative to transmit the advertisement messageassociated with the parameters determining the targeted audience to theheadend 15.

At the headend 15, the advertisement message and the parametersdetermining the targeted audience are preferably processed, for examplein the broadcast center 105, to create an advertisement transmissionprogram scheduled for broadcast to the targeted audience. Theadvertisement transmission program is then broadcast to the targetedaudience in accordance with a programmed schedule of transmission.

It is appreciated that the user may also input parameters determining atleast one of the following: an expiration date of the advertisementmessage; a delivery mode determining a priority of broadcast of theadvertisement transmission program; and a method of payment forbroadcasting the advertisement transmission program. The method ofpayment may include one of the following: payment from a bank account;payment by a credit card; and payment by debiting a debit card. Thedebit card may preferably include a smart card, such as the smart card210.

A television screen 290 displaying an example of an advertisementmessage for transmission to a targeted audience and metadata 292associated with the advertisement message is depicted in FIG. 7. Furtherexamples of advertisement messages for transmission to a targetedaudience are described in U.S. Provisional Patent Applications60/179,968 and 60/176,215 to Wachtfogel et al the disclosures of whichare incorporated herein by reference.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention abroadcast commercial that is received at the receiver and decoder 200may be stored for future display to the user and then, based on criteriapredetermined or determined in real-time, selected and displayed on thedisplay 35. It is appreciated that storage of the broadcast commercialis preferably enabled only if there is no limitation that requiresdisplay of the commercial immediately and/or prevents storage of thecommercial.

If storage of the commercial is enabled, the processor 230 preferablydetermines whether to store the broadcast commercial based upon at leastone of the following: a predetermined preference of the user for an itembeing advertised in the commercial; a previous purchase of an item beingadvertised in the commercial; and correspondence of at least onecharacteristic associated with the commercial to user profileinformation. Then, upon the processor 230 determining to store thebroadcast commercial, the commercial is preferably stored in the memory220, optionally after compression and encryption in thecompressor/decompressor 227 and the encryptor/decrypter 229respectively.

Once the commercial is stored in the memory 220, the processor 230 maydetermine whether to select the broadcast commercial based upon at leastone of the following: a number of times the commercial has already beendisplayed to the user, a number of times other commercials advertisingthe same item advertised by the commercial have already been displayedto the user; a type of product advertised in the commercial, an eventcurrently being viewed; an offer induced by the metadata; a relation toother commercials; a predetermined date; and position of the commercialin a sequence of teaser commercials. Then, upon the processor 230determining to select the broadcast commercial, the processor 230preferably selects the commercial and places the commercial in a highpriority in a display queue.

Preferably, the processor 230 determines whether to currently displaythe broadcast commercial based upon at least one of the following:metadata associated with content displayed to the user which indicateswhen a potential commercial occurs; a required frequency of a commercialbreak; a time of day; a time window during which the broadcastcommercial is valid; analysis of an event; a request of the user, and anindication of the user that he has viewed enough. Once the processor 230determines that the commercial can currently be displayed, thecommercial is preferably provided to the OSD unit 250 which provides thecommercial to the display 35 for displaying thereon.

It is appreciated that due to limitations of storage capacity at theaddressed user unit 20 and/or other criteria, there may be a requirementto delete stored broadcast commercials. In such a case, the processor230 may preferably determine whether to delete a stored broadcastcommercial based upon at least one of the following: a pre-determinedelapsed time period of the broadcast commercial; a number of times thebroadcast commercial has been displayed; in response to receipt of anerase signal; a request of the user (if allowed) not to presentcommercials of a particular vendor; and a payment made to prevent thestored broadcast commercial from being deleted. Then, upon the processor230 determining to delete the broadcast commercial, the commercial ispreferably deleted from the memory 220 in the addressed user unit 20,for example, by the processor 230 transmitting a delete trigger signalin a secure mode.

The apparatus of FIGS. 1-3 also preferably enables counteractingreplacement of advertisements for an item offered by a plurality ofvendors so that an advertiser will not be able to tamper withadvertisements of other advertisers. Alternatively, and under certainconditions, the apparatus of FIGS. 1-3 may enable replacement ofadvertisements for an item offered by a plurality of vendors, typicallyin association with a compensation for an advertiser whose advertisementhas been replaced.

In a case where replacement of advertisements for an item offered by aplurality of vendors must be prevented, the MUX 125 preferablyassociates a video frame displaying the item with a tag indicating avalid vendor, and the transmitter 135 preferably transmits the frame inassociation with the tag indicating the valid vendor. It is appreciatedthat the tag indicating the valid vendor may be encrypted prior toassociation with the frame. Thus, an entity that may want to replace theadvertisement of the item by an advertisement of a vendor other than thevalid vendor must detect the tag and decrypt it, it being appreciatedthat such operations are typically difficult.

The ability to counteract replacement of advertisements for an itemoffered by a plurality of vendors preferably enables secure purchasingof items via a communication network utilizing the digital televisionsystem 10. Preferably, one of a plurality of vendors offering similaritems may be determined as a leading vendor in response to a paymentmade by the leading vendor. Then, advertisements of the item and anoffer to purchase the item from the leading vendor may be displayed tousers of the user units 20 together with advertisements and offers topurchase the item from vendors other than the leading vendor. The usersmay then be enabled to purchase the item via the communication networkonly from the leading vendor.

In a case where replacement of advertisements for an item offered by aplurality of vendors is required, an advertisement of the item may betransmitted in association with a selection icon associated with aleading vendor from among the plurality of vendors. The advertisement ofthe item is then displayed on the display 35, and upon selection of theselection icon by the user, offers to purchase the item by the leadingvendor and by vendors from the plurality of vendors other than theleading vendor are displayed on the display 35. Then, if the userpurchases the item from a vendor other than the leading vendor byordering the item through the headend 15, the processor 230, or the SMS100 preferably compensates the leading vendor for the purchase of theitem from a vendor other than the leading vendor.

It is appreciated that display of advertisements of a plurality ofvendors, whether replacement of advertisements is or is not enabled,requires a mechanism that enables the user to search advertisementstransmitted to the addressed user unit 20. In such a case,advertisements provided by the plurality of vendors and related tosimilar items may preferably be tagged with an advertisement categorytag categorizing the advertisements according to a type of the itemsbeing advertised in the advertisements prior to transmission to the userunits 20. The advertisements related to the similar items thus form asub-group of advertisements from among all advertisements transmitted tothe user units 20, and the user may access the sub-group by performing asearch based on an item name or other characteristics. It is appreciatedthat the sub-group of advertisements, as well as all the advertisementstransmitted to the user units 20, may preferably be associated withdifferent programs.

Preferably, the sub-group of advertisements, together with additionaladvertisements, is received at the addressed user unit 20. Then,identification elements of all ads in the sub-group are preferablydisplayed in response to a selection made by the user when viewing atleast one advertisement from the sub-group of ads. Preferably,identification elements of at least some of the ads in the sub-group aredisplayed simultaneously, for example, in a mosaic display arrangement.

It is appreciated that each identification element in the sub-groupenables the user to select an advertisement associated therewith.Preferably, each identification element includes at least one of thefollowing: an icon identifying an advertisement in the sub-group; anindex identifying an advertisement in the sub-group; a code identifyingan advertisement in the sub-group; an image from an advertisement in thesub-group; and a video clip of an advertisement in the sub-group.

An example showing a preferred implementation of a television screen 295displaying a leading vendor advertisement 296, a mosaic arrangement 297of competing advertisements of a plurality of vendors offering similaritems, and metadata 298 associated with the leading vendor advertisement296 is depicted in FIG. 8.

In a case where the leading vendor must be compensated, the compensationfor leading vendor may include at least one of the following: creditingan account of the leading vendor; and crediting an amount ofadvertisements of the leading vendor. The crediting of an amount ofadvertisements of the leading vendor typically includes a free-of-chargeincrease of the number of times advertisements of the leading vendor aredisplayed within a time period, or a free-of-charge display ofadditional advertisements of the leading vendor.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention theuser may be credited for viewing commercials and advertisers may becharged for receiving from the user indications of interest in itemsadvertised in the commercials. For crediting the user, the processor 230may, for example, calculate a sum of money which is a result ofsubstituting an actual duration-of-display of advertisements associatedwith a program in a predetermined arithmetic function that correlates apredetermined price PR for the program to a predeterminedduration-of-display DD of advertisements associated with the program.

The predetermined arithmetic function may be, for example, a linearfunction of the type Y=A*X where A=PR/DD. If advertisements aredisplayed at the user unit 20 for an actual duration-of-display X₀, theuser may be credited by an amount Y₀=A*X₀. Alternatively, rather thanbeing billed by the sum of money PR for viewing the program, the usermay be billed by a lower sum PR−Y₀. It is appreciated that the presentinvention is not limited by the type of predetermined arithmeticfunction that is used, and that any appropriate function may be used.

Crediting the user for viewing advertisements thus creates a mechanismof billing that is correlated to an amount of advertisements beingdisplayed to the user. Preferably, the billing of the user is carriedout by the smart card 210 or by the SMS 100, as is well known in the art

If the user transmits to the headend 15, for example via the telephonenetwork 30, reports corresponding to a commercial broadcast to amultiplicity of users, the broadcast center 105 may preferably performat least one of the following: credit the user by an amount of credit;and charge an advertiser of the commercial by an amount of charge. It isappreciated that the amount of credit may include a predetermined amountof credit, such as a fixed amount of credit, or may be proportional to anumber of the reports. It is further appreciated that additional reportsincluding, for example, information regarding which commercials havebeen stored at the addressed user unit 20 and when commercials that havebeen stored at the addressed user unit 20 have been displayed, may alsobe reported back to the headend 15, and advertisers may either becharged for the additional reports or receive the additional reportsfree of charge.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 9A-9E which together constitute asimplified flowchart illustration of a preferred method of operation ofthe apparatus of FIGS. 1-3.

Preferably, a program and a set of commercials to be displayed duringprogram breaks are encrypted and prepared at a headend for transmissionto a plurality of user units (step 300). Metadata to be associated withthe program and the commercials is preferably encrypted for protectionand transmitted together with the program and the set of commercials ina broadcast digital stream (step 310).

The metadata may include delay tags indicating whether display of thecommercials can be delayed. Additionally, the metadata may include tagsindicating valid vendors associated with frames displaying advertiseditems in each commercial in order to prevent replacement of a commercialfor an item offered by a plurality of vendors. Alternatively, ifreplacement of commercials for an item offered by a plurality of vendorsis enabled, the metadata may include links associating the commercialwith a selection icon associated with a leading vendor from among aplurality of vendors.

Further additionally, the metadata may include replacement tagsindicating whether replacement of displaying commercials by displayingof alternative commercials associated therewith is allowed.

The broadcast digital stream is preferably received at a user unit (step320) and based upon predetermined criteria or criteria determined inreal-time (step 330), the program may be displayed without delay (step340) or stored in the user unit for future display to a user of the userunit (step 350).

In order to manipulate the commercials and/or interact with thecommercials, each commercial in the set of commercials is preferablydetected (step 360), for example, by detecting indicia in the metadatathat indicate at least one of the following: a start point of thecommercial; an end point of the commercial; and a presence point withinthe commercial. Alternatively, each commercial may be detected byperforming an analysis on content of the broadcast digital stream todetect parameters characterizing the commercial or by performing ananalysis on a user behavior during display of the broadcast digitalstream to detect behavior characteristics associated with user behaviorduring display of commercials.

Once the commercials are detected, a processor in the user unitpreferably determines which of the commercials to play without delay andwhich of the commercials to store (step 370). Commercials to be playedwithout delay are preferably played sequentially and without delay incommercial breaks in the program (step 380). Commercials to be storedare preferably stored, for example, in a high capacity memory (step390), optionally after compression and encryption in acompressor/decompressor and an encryptor/decrypter respectively. It isappreciated that storage of the commercials may be performed, forexample, in accordance with parameters associated with the commercials,such as a broadcaster set of parameters, an agent set of parameters anda user set of parameters as described in U.S. patent application Ser.No. 09/515,118 to Wachtfogel et al (corresponding to published PCTApplication WO 00/01149), the disclosure of which is incorporated hereinby reference.

It is appreciated that a determination whether to store each commercialis preferably first made by checking whether display of the commercialcan be delayed and then made based, for example, upon at least one ofthe following: a predetermined preference of the user for an item beingadvertised in the commercial; a previous purchase of an item beingadvertised in the commercial; and correspondence of at least onecharacteristic associated with the commercial to user profileinformation.

Preferably, when the user decides to view the program that is stored inthe user unit, the program is preferably retrieved from the memory,decrypted, decompressed and displayed on a television at the user unit(step 400). Commercials whose display cannot be delayed are preferablydisplayed without delay at suitable commercial breaks in the program(step 410).

As display of the program progresses, the processor preferably selects astored commercial for displaying to the user and selects a time frameduring which to display the commercial (step 420).

Selection of the stored commercial is preferably performed in responseto a determination based upon at least one of the following: a number oftimes the commercial has already been displayed to the user; a number oftimes other commercials advertising the same item advertised by thecommercial have already been displayed to the user; a type of productadvertised in the commercial; an event currently being viewed; an offerinduced by the metadata; a relation to other commercials; apredetermined date; and position in a sequence of teaser commercials.Selection of the time frame during which to display the commercial ispreferably performed in response to a determination based upon at leastone of the following: metadata associated with content displayed to theuser which indicates when a potential commercial occurs; a requiredfrequency of a commercial break; a time of day; analysis of an event, arequest of the user, and an indication of the user that he has viewedenough.

If the user is allowed to delay displaying of the commercial (step 430),the user may perform a selection which delays display of the commercial(step 440).

If the user is allowed to replace displaying of the commercial bydisplaying of an alternative commercial (step 450) the user may selectdisplaying of one of the commercial and the alternative commercial (step460).

If replacement of commercials for an item offered by a plurality ofvendors is allowed (step 470), the user may indicate a selection by, forexample, operating a selection icon, and may purchase the item from theleading vendor or from a vendor other than the leading vendor from amongthe plurality of vendors (step 480). In a case where the user purchasesthe item from a vendor other than the leading vendor (step 490), theleading vendor may be compensated (step 500), via the headend, for thepurchase of the item from a vendor other than the leading vendor.

It is appreciated that users may be compensated for viewing ofcommercials by billing the users by a sum which decreases with an amountof commercials viewed by the users and/or by crediting the users by anamount of credit in response to providing feedback reports on thecommercials. It is further appreciated that advertisers may be chargedfor receiving feedback reports on the commercials from the users.

Preferably, during or after viewing the program or a commercial, theuser may decide to transmit a recommendation of the program or acommercial to a remote user (step 510). In such a case, the user mayopen an electronic message form on the television (step 520) whichpreferably already includes an identification of the program if theprogram is at least one of the following: highlighted; marked; andviewed by the user, and fill in the electronic message form with atleast identification details of the remote user to form a recommendationmessage (step 530). The electronic message form is then transmitted tothe headend (step 540).

At the headend, the electronic form is processed to match theidentification details of the remote user with valid subscriber details(step 550), and if the identification details of the remote user matchvalid subscriber details (step 560) the recommendation message ispreferably forwarded to the remote user (step 570). It is appreciatedthat if the identification details of the remote user do not match validsubscriber details, an error message is preferably transmitted to theuser (step 580).

Preferably, during, before, or after viewing the program or acommercial, the user may also preferably decide to transmit anadvertisement message to a targeted audience (step 590). In such a case,the user may create an advertisement message (step 600), associate theadvertisement message with parameters determining the targeted audience(step 610) and transmit the advertisement message associated with theparameters determining the targeted audience to the headend (step 620).

At the headend, the advertisement message and the parameters determiningthe targeted audience are preferably processed to create anadvertisement transmission program scheduled for broadcast to thetargeted audience (step 630), and broadcast to the targeted audience indue time (step 640).

It is appreciated that various features of the invention which are, forclarity, described in the contexts of separate embodiments may also beprovided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, variousfeatures of the invention which are, for brevity, described in thecontext of a single embodiment may also be provided separately or in anysuitable subcombination. For example, the method described withreference to FIGS. 9A-9E need not be carried out as a whole or followingthe sequence described above, but rather in accordance with preferencesof the user of the user unit. Thus, the user may, for example, onlydecide to delay display of a commercial associated with the program andresume viewing of the program. The commercial is then stored in thememory in response to a selection of the user of delaying display of thecommercial, and retrieved from the memory and displayed after apredetermined delay period or a delay period selected by the user.

The user may also decide, at a time when a commercial associated with analternative commercial is about to be displayed, to select viewing thealternative commercial.

Furthermore, at a time when a commercial that enables purchase of anitem via communication with the headend is displayed, the user may checkwhether the item may be purchased from vendors other than the leadingvendor, and purchase the item from the leading vendor or from a vendorother than the leading vendor.

At any appropriate stage, the user may decide to transmit arecommendation of the program or a commercial to a remote user in whichcase the user may follow the procedure described above with reference totransmission of recommendations of programs or commercials.

Similarly, the user may decide, at any appropriate stage, to transmit anadvertisement message to a targeted audience in which case the user mayfollow the procedure described above with reference to transmission ofadvertisement messages to target audiences.

It is appreciated that various features of the invention which are, forclarity, described in the contexts of separate embodiments may also beprovided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, variousfeatures of the invention which are, for brevity, described in thecontext of a single embodiment may also be provided separately or in anysuitable subcombination. It is further appreciated that persons skilledin the art will be capable of implementing various features of thepresent invention that are presented as any of hardware, firmware, orsoftware in any appropriate one or combination of hardware, firmware,and software.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the presentinvention is not limited by what has been particularly shown anddescribed hereinabove. Rather the scope of the invention is defined onlyby the claims which follow:

1. A method for displaying advertisements at a user unit comprising areceiver and a processor, the method comprising: receiving, at thereceiver, at least one advertisement for an item, said at least oneadvertisement associated with: at least one alternative advertisementfor a different item or for said item offered by a different vendor; andadvertisement metadata comprising: a replacement indication indicatingwhether a user of said user unit is allowed to replace displaying ofsaid at least one advertisement by displaying of said at least onealternative advertisement; and an indication of a maximum number oftimes said at least one advertisement can be replaced; receiving, at thereceiver, user configuration metadata comprising an indication of amaximum number of user replacements of advertisements per day; analyzingat the processor said advertisement metadata and said user configurationmetadata; determining based on said analyzing if the user is allowed toreplace displaying of said at least one advertisement by displaying ofsaid at least one alternative advertisement; and replacing, if the useris allowed based on said determining, displaying of said at least oneadvertisement by displaying said at least one alternative advertisementin accordance with a selection of the user.
 2. The method according toclaim 1 and also comprising, prior to said displaying: determiningwhether said at least one advertisement and said at least onealternative advertisement are competing advertisements; and performingsaid displaying based, at least in part, on a result of saiddetermining.
 3. The method according to claim 1 and wherein saidreplacement indication also provides an archiving indication indicatingwhich one of said at least one advertisement and said at least onealternative advertisement is to be archived, and the method alsocomprises: archiving one of said at least one advertisement and said atleast one alternative advertisement based, at least in part, on saidarchiving indication.
 4. The method according to claim 3 and whereinsaid archiving comprises: archiving one of said at least oneadvertisement and said at least one alternative advertisement inresponse to payment by an advertiser.
 5. The method according to claim 1and wherein each of said at least one advertisement and said at leastone alternative advertisement comprises at least one of the following: avideo clip; a still image; and audio.
 6. The method according to claim 1and wherein each of said at least one advertisement and said at leastone alternative advertisement comprises a combination comprising atleast two of the following: a video clip; a still image; and audio. 7.The method according to claim 1 and also comprising storing current userinteractivity metadata which comprises at least one of the following: anindication of a number of advertisement replacements executed in acurrent day; and a number of advertisement replacements executed uponthe at least one advertisement.
 8. The method according to claim 1, saiduser unit further comprising a memory, wherein said at least onealternative advertisement, said advertisement metadata, and said userconfiguration metadata are stored in said memory.
 9. A user unit fordisplaying advertisements, the user unit comprising: a receiveroperative to receive: at least one advertisement for an item, said atleast one advertisement associated with: at least one alternativeadvertisement for a different item or for said item offered by adifferent vendor; and advertisement metadata comprising: a replacementindication indicating whether a user of said user unit is allowed toreplace displaying of said at least one advertisement by displaying ofsaid at least one alternative advertisement; and an indication of amaximum number of times said at least one advertisement can be replaced;and wherein said receiver is further operative to receive userconfiguration metadata comprising an indication of a maximum number ofuser replacements of advertisements per day; and said user unit furthercomprises: a processor operatively associated with said receiver andoperative to: analyze said advertisement metadata and said userconfiguration metadata and produce a result; make a determination basedon said result if the user is allowed to replace displaying of said atleast one advertisement by displaying of said at least one alternativeadvertisement; and provide said at least one alternative advertisementto a display for display thereby in accordance with a selection of theuser, if the user is allowed based on said determination.
 10. The userunit according to claim 9 and wherein said processor is also operativeto make a determination of whether said at least one advertisement andsaid at least one alternative advertisement are competingadvertisements, and to provide said one of said at least oneadvertisement and said at least one alternative advertisement to thedisplay for display thereby based, at least in part, on a result of saiddetermination.
 11. The user unit according to claim 9 and wherein saidreplacement indication also provides an archiving indication indicatingwhich one of said at least one advertisement and said at least onealternative advertisement is to be archived, and the processor is alsooperative to archive one of said at least one advertisement and said atleast one alternative advertisement in a memory based, at least in part,on said archiving indication.
 12. The user unit according to claim 11and wherein the processor is operative to archive one of said at leastone advertisement and said at least one alternative advertisement inresponse to payment by an advertiser.
 13. The user unit according toclaim 9 and wherein each of said at least one advertisement and said atleast one alternative advertisement comprises at least one of thefollowing: a video clip; a still image; and audio.
 14. The user unitaccording to claim 9 and wherein each of said at least one advertisementand said at least one alternative advertisement comprises a combinationcomprising at least two of the following: a video clip; a still image;and audio.
 15. The user unit according to claim 9 and also comprising amemory operative to store said advertisement metadata and said userconfiguration metadata.
 16. The user unit according to claim 9 and alsocomprising a memory operative to store current user interactivitymetadata which comprises at least one of the following: an indication ofa number of advertisement replacements executed in a current day; and anumber of advertisement replacements executed upon the at least oneadvertisement.
 17. A user unit for displaying advertisements, the userunit comprising: means for receiving: at least one advertisement for anitem, said at least one advertisement associated with: at least onealternative advertisement for a different item or for said item offeredby a different vendor; and advertisement metadata comprising: areplacement indication indicating whether a user of said user unit isallowed to replace displaying of said at least one advertisement bydisplaying of said at least one alternative advertisement; and anindication of a maximum number of times said at least one advertisementcan be replaced; and means for receiving user configuration metadatacomprising an indication of a maximum number of user replacements ofadvertisements per day; means for analyzing said advertisement metadataand said user configuration metadata; means for determining based onsaid analyzing the user is allowed to replace displaying of said atleast one advertisement by displaying of said at least one alternativeadvertisement; and means for providing said at least one alternativeadvertisement to a means for displaying for display thereby inaccordance with a selection of the user if if the user is allowed basedon said determining.